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2015-05-29 New Radiator is Shit

It started with the sweet pungent smell of hot glycol. I've been searching for leak from sometime, at least 3 months. Along the way found a leaky radiator. Replaced it with one I had from the deer strike. It lasted 3 weeks then started leaking from the upper core, just like the one I bought from ExtremeMarine. Then I discovered a leak coming from above, from the cap/T-stat area.

Removed the t-stat, cleaned everything up good, (there corrosion on the 3 bolts holding the two t-stat body halves together). Put all back together.

1 week later, the sweet pungent smell of hot glycol. Remove lower cowlings again. Remove t-stat assembly again. Find small nick on hose from head water inlet behind clamp. Of course it was on the bottom, undetectable until removed.

The upper mounting brackets are a different story. Completly misaligned to fit the frame. In attempting to reposition it, the cheesy weld broke and the core compressed. It wasn't even freaking close to every fitting the frame. It took very little force and the weld broke. No way would it survive my dirt road.

So there it is. Contacted eBay to return. Bought a new radiator for $390 from PartsZilla. Two are in the Yamaha Cali warehouse. Should be to me in 2 weeks. Just in time to install then go riding.

Moral of the story? Don't buy cheap Chinese crap. You will pay for it in the end.